Avocent AMX Switch Series Installation and maintenance instructions

Installer/User Guide
AMX™Series

INSTRUCTIONS
This symbol is intended to alert the user to the presence of important
operating and maintenance (servicing) instructions in the literature
accompanying the appliance.
DANGEROUS VOLTAGE
This symbol is intended to alert the user to the presence of uninsulated
dangerous voltage within the product’s enclosure that may be of sufficient
magnitude to constitute a risk of electric shock to persons.
POWER ON
This symbol indicates the principal on/off switch is in the on position.
POWER OFF
This symbol indicates the principal on/off switch is in the off position.
PROTECTIVE GROUNDING TERMINAL
This symbol indicates a terminal which must be connected to earth ground
prior to making any other connections to the equipment.

Avocent, the Avocent logo, AMX, AMWorks, OSCAR and The
Power of Being There are trademarks or registered trademarks
of Avocent Corporation or its affliates. All other marks are the
property of their respective owners.
© 2003 Avocent Corporation. All rights reserved.
AMX™Series
Installer/User Guide

USA Notification
Warning: Changes or modifications to this unit not expressly approved by the party
responsible for compliance could void the user's authority to operate the equipment.
Note: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital
device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable
protection against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in a commercial
environment. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if
not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual, may cause harmful
interference to radio communications. Operation of this equipment in a residential area is
likely to cause harmful interference in which case the user will be required to correct the
interference at his own expense.
Canadian Notification
This digital apparatus does not exceed the Class A limits for radio noise emissions from
digital apparatus set out in the Radio Interference Regulations of the Canadian Department
of Communications.
Le présent appareil numérique n’émet pas de bruits radioélectriques dépassant les limites
applicables aux appareils numériques de la classe A prescrites dans le Règlement sur le
brouillage radioélectrique édicté par le Ministère des Communications du Canada.
Japanese Approvals
Agency Approvals
EN55022 Class A, EN55024, EN61000-3-2, EN61000-3-3, EN60950, FCC 47CFR Part15 Class A,
CSA C22.2 No. 60950, IEC 60950, FCC 15 Class A, UL 60950 third edition, VCCI Class A

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Product Overview
Features and Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Component Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Safety Precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Chapter 2: Installation
Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Installing an AMX System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Installing a Tiered AMX System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Configuring the AMX Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Configuring an AMX Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
FLASH Upgrading the AMX System . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Chapter 3: Basic Operations
Power Up and LEDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
User Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
OSCAR Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Selecting Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Keyboard Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Chapter 4: Advanced Operations
User Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Server Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Console Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Chapter 5: Terminal Operations
Accessing the Terminal Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Appendices
Appendix A: Technical Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Appendix B: Using AMIQ-SRL Modules . . . . . . . . . 56
Appendix C: Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Contents
Product Overview
1
Features and Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Component Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Safety Precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Chapter 1: Product Overview 3
Chapter 1: Product Overview
Features and Benefits
The Avocent AMX™ Series of products allows multiple users within the
switching system to access and operate PC, USB or Sun servers and serial
devices at the same time. A basic AMX system configuration connects users
and servers to one or more AMX switches. Any user in the system can access
any attached server or serial device by simply switching to it through an
AMX switch.
NOTE: References to the AMX unit and AMX switch are used interchangeably in this
user guide.
An AMX system consists of one or more rack mountable AMX switches, the
Avocent matrix user station and the Avocent matrix intelligent module(s)
AMIQ. The AMX switch is equipped with Avocent’s patented On-Screen
Configuration Activity Reporting (OSCAR®) interface, allowing you to use your
keyboard or mouse to select any attached server or serial device. Also supplied
with each AMX is AMWorks™, the standalone administration utility used to
administer naming and access information for attached users and servers.
Multiplatform
The AMX Series features multiplatform capabilities, enabling your switching
system to simultaneously support any combination of PC, USB or Sun servers
and serial devices. The AMX switch permits easy access across platforms with a
PS/2 or Sun keyboard and mouse. Operated through the AMX system, a PC
keyboard and mouse can operate a Sun server as easily as a Sun keyboard and
mouse can operate an attached PC.
Advanced video compensation
The AMX user station provides advanced video compensation that maximizes
video quality to support long distance communications. The video
compensation feature automatically compensates for any losses in video signal
to the user station.
Multiuser
The AMX Series allows “matrix switching,” enabling multiple users to have
simultaneous access to different servers and serial devices in the system. For
example, an AMX system with four users accessing four different servers is a
4 x 4 matrix. Eight users accessing 10 different servers would be an 8 x 10 matrix.

4AMX Series Installer/User Guide
Sharing
If two or more users need access to the same server or serial device, they can
share access through the AMX Series units. Sharing enables multiple users to
switch to the same server at the same time. All connected users can see the
server’s video, but only one user can enter data at any given moment.
Expansion capability
The expansion capability of your AMX switch depends on the AMX product
installed in your system. If your total number of servers is greater than 32
(supported by the AMX5000) or 64 (supported by the AMX5010), you can
connect multiple AMX switches together to give dozens of users control of
hundreds of servers from one set of peripherals. For additional flexibility, you
can attach other Avocent keyboard, video and mouse (KVM) switches to the
AMX as well. Refer to Chapter 2 for additional information on tiering an
AMX system.
OSCAR graphic user interface
Using the OSCAR interface, you can select any attached system computer
through your keyboard or mouse. The OSCAR interface supports multilevel
security with password protection, enabling you to control how much access
users have to each server in your data center. For additional security, OSCAR
can be configured to log out after a user-defined period of inactivity. When the
time-out is reached, the current channel is deselected and the screen goes
blank. Users must log in again to access system servers.
AMWorks utility
AMWorks is the standalone administration utility supplied with each AMX.
This utility is used to assign names to attached servers and administer
naming and access information for attached users. You can also use
AMWorks to configure AMX installations remotely, eliminating the need to
configure each unit separately. In addition, AMWorks enables you to monitor
and report on all system and switching events and activities.
Component Overview
An AMX system consists of four main components:
• One or more AMX switches
• Avocent matrix user station(s)